ONE of Welsh language TV’s most popular series of the past will be remembered next week.

A special edition of the S4C series Cofio will look back at Dinas.

In the hour-long programme, Lisa Gwilym will relive the series which followed fictional business empires in Cardiff between 1985 and 1991.

With more than 400 memorable episodes, characters such as Paul, Helen and Miriam Ambrose became household names.Viewers were introduced to glitz, wealth, power and fashion rarely seen before on Welsh-language television.

Cofio contains a wealth of film clips from the series produced by ITV Wales and there are interviews with members of the cast and crew. Among the actors interviewed are Geoff Morgan, Eiry Palfrey, Donna Edwards, Christine Pritchard, Wynford Ellis Owen, Simon Fisher, Ian Saynor and Mair Rowlands.

The series reflected exciting changes in the Welsh capital as the old industrial port was transformed into Cardiff Bay.

“It all started down in Penarth Docks,” says producer Graham Jones. “There were hundreds of acres of unused land there. We could see that Cardiff had the potential to develop as a city, so it was a good canvas for the drama.”

Dinas broke new ground in the Welsh language as most previous TV dramas had been set in rural areas.

Actors such as Geoff Morgan (Paul Ambrose) and Donna Edwards (Miriam Ambrose) had never acted in Welsh before and the producers took a risk, casting them because they “suited” the Cardiff they wanted to portray.

Morgan said: “I was living in London and working as an actor in the West End when I decided to go on an Wlpan Welsh language course in Lampeter and everything changed overnight. I got a part in Pobol y Cwm and Graham Jones saw me on the programme and I received an invitation to come to Cardiff to audition for a part in Dinas.”

The themes were often quite intense – Paul Ambrose’s affairs, fraud and conspiracy in Ambrose International and Atlantic House making the headlines.

Viewers will also remember Edwards’ emotional portrayal of the rebellious Miriam and Wynford Ellis Owen’s portrait of the alcoholic Robin Gregory while he too was suffering with a drink problem.